Hi!
I will be applying next year for colleges and I am interested in Upenn(Wharton), Princeton, Yale, WashU, UVA, and a few other schools. I was hoping some people could help let me know if various parts of my application could help me look “world-class” enough to have a shot at these schools or if I am kidding myself. My GPA, rank, scores, and other EC’s are pretty much where they should be, it’s just the spike part that gives me trouble.
I am passionate about foreign languages so I am president of the Foreign Language Honor Society at my school, I have organized a project to send food and supplies to developing Spanish-speaking countries, and have raised money for a foundation that works in these countries. Also, I traveled to Peru to help build a library at an orphanage. I hope to develop a strong narrative about how I saw the hardships faced by these people and continued to help when I got home.
Another potential spike is my debate "career." I am president and a squad leader at my school of the debate team, and I received two bids to the tournament of champions in my event at national tournaments.
A third idea for how I might stand out is in politics. I helped organize a local event for students to ask local politicians questions, and I chaired it senior year. Also, I was active in volunteering for multiple campaigns on the local state and national level. I knocked on doors, made calls, and even started doing voter registration for my party.
Please let me know what you think about my chances of standing out. Also lmk if you have any suggestions for other things I could potentially do. Thanks :)!
None of that really stands out to me. Colleges don’t care one bit about Honor societies. It doesn’t sound like you really did anything particularly worthy in debate other than have a bit of success. Your political involvement isn’t particularly unique. Just apply and hope for the best. You’re up against the best in the world. You’re not always going to have the luxury of standing out.
Just one thought – be careful when writing about the volunteer work in Peru, which doesn’t say much except that you could afford to go to Peru. Surely there is a lot of need within your own community and “poverty tours” can backfire if not handled carefully.
I didn’t realize that - thank you everyone. Maybe I will focus it on just how much I love the language and how I raised a lot of money for those organizations. I also got a 5 on the Spanish AP test even though I am white. My trip to Peru was not very expensive bc I traveled with ppl I knew who have family there but I see how it could be viewed as privilege.
Unless it is incredibly well written and offers a truly unique perspective, don’t write your essay about a service trip. Most colleges warn against that.
Regarding your love of foreign language, if you speak several fluently that could be a good thing to play up. If you just love them, not so much a hook.
Debate is good. Problem is a lot of kids do debate. But if you have made it to nationals that does stand out. Colleges generally rate debate and speech above other ecs
I usually call it Penn, but have noticed people call it UPenn in these forums so I didn’t know what to say lol. I play tennis and have many other clubs and things. I was just wondering what I could hope to use to make me stand out. I realize that I definitely don’t have anything amazing, does anyone have any suggestions for how to make myself stand out otherwise??
LOL I didn’t plan on putting that line in my essay don’t worry - what I meant by that was that I learned the language and did well on the exam even though I don’t have a hispanic background.
In any essay/interview/conversation with anyone who has a connection to Penn, never say/write “UPenn.” Using here is fine, since some people will otherwise assume Penn State.
Exactly. I know no one who has gone to Penn who says “UPenn”. And it is tiresome when some people say “but their internet address says upenn!”.
WashU’s internet address says wustl, but only people who didn’t go there call it Wustl. I am familiar with WUStL through my area of work, but once I started meeting people from there, it was clear everyone at the university calls it WashU.
If you want to hedge your bets, you can refer to “your university” in your essay, but be darned sure that everything else in a particular essay is very specific to that college, like mentioning the city it is in or so on.
instparent, What do you mean? Is it bad to discuss how I learned the language. It was through practicing and speaking to native-speaking friends so it definitely was something that took hard work. I don’t want to mention it if looks bad I just thought it would show a passion for culture and a foreign language.